Arthur Ellemor

(1906 to 1980)

Source: Courtesy Michael Ellemor

Arthur Ellemor was a Methodist missionary with a depth of
experience in northern Australia. He had lived at Millingimbi and
spoke some Yolngu languages. Arthur was secretary, then convenor,
of the Methodist Commission on Aboriginal Affairs in the 1960s. In
these positions he presented the position of the Yolngu as the
ongoing owners of their land, who had never been displaced as had
so many communities in other parts of Australia. Ellemor provided
research findings to support the court case for land rights being
developed by the Yolngu. He saw land as being central to the future
of race relations in Australia.